Facebook video shows assault of Phillipsburg Middle School student

Phillipsburg Middle School student assaultWARNING: This video contains violence and profanity. A group of Phillipsburg Middle School students are shown cheering as one of their schoolmates assaults another boy, who is also a student. The video of the assault was posted on Facebook. After viewing it, the victim's mother reported the assault to school officials, who contacted police. The assault occurred on school property.

A video that appeared on Facebook two weeks ago depicts a group of Phillipsburg Middle School students cheering as a classmate assaults a fellow student.

The video has since been removed from Facebook, and police are now investigating the assault, characterized by school officials as an act of bullying.

View full sizeExpress-Times ImagesA video posted on Facebook of boys fighting outside Phillipsburg Middle School is getting attention from middle school officials and law enforcement authorities.

The video shows Omari Gibson, 13, being harassed by the group to fight for 30 seconds with a 14-year-old student.

As the fight begins, Gibson curls into the fetal position, covering his face, as the other teen punches, kicks and knees him.

"My son is not a fighter," said Tracy Decembly, Gibson’s mother, who moved to Phillipsburg last September. "If he didn’t fight, they would jump him."

The attack took place July 15 on Phillipsburg Middle School property, near Anderson Street. Gibson’s mother said the assaults have occurred two to three times a week since the winter.

"I talked to the principal of the middle school in the winter and the school put a fence in the back of the school where the kids were fighting," said Decembly, whose son will be entering seventh grade this fall. "I thought it had stopped until a teacher on Monday (July 18) recommended for my son to call me to pick him up because a group of kids were waiting for him outside the school."

Decembly said she alerted police after receiving the call from her son and that an officer responded, but did not see any kids on the school property.

"I asked my son on Friday (July 22) if there was any videos of kids getting bullied, and he showed me the Facebook video of him getting beat up," Decembly said. "That same day I complained to the principal about the video of the kids fighting on school property."

The middle school principal, Richard Kistler, said he is aware of the situation, and the school district has also contacted police.

"Acts of bullying and active violence brought to the administration are addressed immediately," Kistler said. "I’m fully aware of the situation and the matter will be addressed appropriately."

The Phillipsburg Police Department confirmed it is investigating the attack through the private complaint filed by Decembly.

"School officials notified us on July 26 of the incident and said they became aware of the incident on July 21 when a juvenile advised Kistler about the fight posted on Facebook," Phillipsburg police Chief Ed Mirenda said. "The mother of the victim signed the complaint on July 26."

The attacker’s mother wanted Decembly to reconsider pressing the assault charges, according to Decembly.

"The mother wanted to talk to me against pressing charges because he’s already on probation," Decembly said.

Assaults take toll

The numerous assaults have taken a toll on the teen.

"My son has had constant headaches from the attacks," Decembly said. "Some kids tell him not to go to sleep for a couple hours after he is attacked because he might have a concussion."

Twenty-two comments had been posted from teenagers on Facebook below the video before it was removed.

The video remained posted online until The Express-Times notified Facebook on Thursday.

"There are more than 30 billion pieces of content (and this includes videos) shared on Facebook each month," spokeswoman Nicky Jackson Colaco said in an e-mail. "We rely on reports from our community as a key way to notify us of illicit content, and we never received any reports for the (attack) video. We have now removed it."

Even though Facebook will remove content when notified, it does not filter content before it is posted.

With the volume of uploads, "It would be impractical (and a bad experience for people) to have everything reviewed before it is posted," Colaco said in the e-mail. "We do proactively filter content in certain situations (for instance, we use a technology called PhotoDNA to identify and remove child pornography/child exploitative material, etc.)."

Mirenda believes an assault video posted online can assist police.

"I can’t believe the video is still on the website," Mirenda said Thursday before it was removed. "It's stupid to post an assault video to Facebook because people can be identified and charged."